


Gems at Work!

by chinchillasinunison



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon), はたらく細胞 | Hataraku Saibou | Cells at Work! (Anime), はたらく細胞 | Hataraku Saibou | Cells at Work! (Manga)
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/M, Gem Fusion, Homeworld Hierarchy (Steven Universe), Meet-Cute, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, gem au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2019-07-29 08:36:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16260575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chinchillasinunison/pseuds/chinchillasinunison
Summary: On a distant Homeworld colony, a young Cinnabar begins the first day of the rest of her life as a delivery gem. However, a wrong turn lands her in a hidden underbelly of battles, gem monsters, and an aloof yet caring soldier by the name of Milky Quartz.





	1. Charoites and Chance Encounters

Cinnabar passed under archways and along catwalks of the city with confused awe. The crystalline urban sprawl and its sparkling tints of whites, blues, yellows, and pinks were truly a sight to behold, but it certainly didn’t make navigation easy. That was especially so for such a recently emerged gem as herself.

“Oh…” she whined to herself, distressed, “What was that address again?”

She glanced about the red bubbles floating about her head until she found the one with the tablet suspended inside. She summoned her “weapon,” a retractable utility knife (though it was more just a tool than anything), from the gemstone on her left thigh and popped the bubble. She held her hand out to catch it, but the rectangle of solid light clattered to the ground anyway. Quickly, she snatched it back up, and reread the address it displayed.

“Hmm, right,” she muttered, scratching her head, “Now, am I on the 23rd or the 32nd level...?”

Her eyes wandered upwards, tracking the geometric patterns of windows on the spires above.

“Eh, I guess I can figure it out…” she said with a shrug. She rebubbled the tablet and pressed forward, still having no idea where she was going.

 

It turns out, she couldn’t figure it out. She just got even more lost, somehow finding herself on the lowest level, strung just above the planet’s surface. She peered over the chasm of dark, dead earth and squeaked fearfully.

“Welp!” she said, immediately looking away, stray curl perking, “Guess I should start retracing my steps!”

Just as she took her first step, coincidentally, something leapt out from the abyss. It was huge and lavender colored, its body segmented and armored. It had six legs, long and thin, with huge black claws like sickles. Several tentacles stuck out of the back, also ending in claws. It had no eyes, just some strange triangular purple plate on its face. It crashed into the catwalk, destroying a section of the railing. It twitched unnaturally, making horrible clicking noises as it struggled up onto the platform. When it finally got up, its head snapped towards her. It parted its mandibles and screeched at her. She screamed in kind and attempted to flee as the beast charged towards her. In her haste, she tripped over herself, bursting several of her bubbles. She scrambled to rebubble her shipments and the monster pounced as she cowered in terror.

Then, out of nowhere, a white blur hurled towards the creature’s face, knocking it back. A pale, monochromatic gem dropped into view in a perfect three-point landing. Cinnabar could feel the determination radiating off of them even from behind. She could also tell by their physique alone they were some type of quartz. The monster hissed and lunged at the attacker. The quartz dodged and grabbed hold of one of its tentacles. It swung the appendage around, trying to fling them off. This appeared part of the quartz’s plan, however, and as soon as they had a window of opportunity, they jumped from the limb onto the head. They gripped the triangular plate with one hand, the creature bucking madly, and with the other moved aside the hair that covered their right eye. Only, Cinnabar soon realized what was beneath it was not an eye at all, but the quartz’s gemstone. They summoned their weapon, an anti-terror knife, and raised it in the air.

“Shatter, gem!” the quartz bellowed in a deep, ravenous baritone.

He plunged the knife into the head, and the creature exploded into a massive cloud of gem dust. Cinnabar stared gobsmacked as the pale quartz calmly walked towards her, holding that purple plate she now recognized was a gemstone. He reached out his other hand.

“Do you need help?” The voice was still just as deep, but soft in tone, like a warm blanket wrapping around the ears.

After a moment of delay, she took the hand and the quartz lifted her to her feet.

“Hey, dude! Did you get it?” called a voice off to the side and a bit below them. Cinnabar looked to the source, and saw a troop of quartz soldiers who looked nearly identical to the one standing before her. There were four of them, all forming a vertical chain as they hung from the craggy rock wall. The topmost one, it seemed, improvised his knives as climbing gear.

The quartz silently held the gemstone up in the air.

“Cool!” yelled the top quartz back, “Toss it over!”

He did just that, and another of the quartzes, one with bangs completely covering his eyes, caught it. How in all the stars he was able to even see it, Cinnabar would never know. As the rest of the quartzes climbed their way back down to who knows where, the first quartz looked back to her.

“Hey, you’re a cinnabar, aren’t you?” he asked.

She jumped a bit at being addressed directly, still a bit shaken up over everything that just happened. Still, she straightened her back and performed the diamond salute proudly, if a bit feverishly, “Cinnabar, Cut-3AE, at your service!”

“Right…” his eye wandered. “Anyway, what’s a gem like you doing all alone in a place like this? We don’t normally get deliveries down here.”

“Oh, well, you see, I’m a bit… lost.”

“Lost?”

“Yep, lost.” She burst the tablet bubble and showed it to him, “See, I have the address right here, it’s just matter of getting there that’s causing me grief.”

He looked it over, “Hmm. You know, I think I may know where this is. I could take you there.”

“Oh, really, you don’t have to do that!” she said quickly, “You’ve already done so much for me, I wouldn’t want to impose!”

He shrugged, “Alright.” He turned and started walking away.

“Wait, wait!” she called.

He turned back around, confused.

“You didn’t think I was serious, did you? I _would_ like your help, I was just trying to be polite.”

He squinted, “Why would telling me the opposite of what you mean be considered polite?”

“Well, it’s because…!” She paused, blinking, “because…” She put her hand to her chin, “Huh… You know what? I think you’re right. It doesn’t make sense.”

They dwelled on that for just a moment before the quartz spoke again.

“So, should we get moving?”

She nodded, “Sounds good to me, let’s go.”

The two gradually made their way up to the more tamed urban center and promenaded through the gem metropolis. The angular buildings scraped against a purple, star-studded sky, glinting in their constant light. All around, gems bustled along on their daily grind, always working to make this planet the best it could be, perhaps even grand enough to host the Diamonds themselves.

“You know,” said the quartz, somewhat dreamy, “I usually don’t get to wander like this. Mostly it’s just patrolling, which means I don’t really get to actually enjoy it.”

Cinnabar beamed, “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

The gem didn’t answer, just hummed, but Cinnabar saw his lips curl into a slight smile. He was oddly reserved for a quartz, especially when compared to how ruthlessly he took down that thing that attacked her earlier. Her mind circling back to it, a curiosity she was too overwhelmed to satisfy initially nipped at her.

“What was that thing down there, anyway? The thing that jumped onto the catwalk. I thought it might’ve been organic, but it had a gemstone…”

He answered, “That was a corrupted gem. A charoite, I think.”

Her brow furrowed at the unfamiliar term. “Corrupted? What does that mean?”

“It means they’re… wrong,” he attempted to put it into words, “You know, the kindergartners try their best, but only the Diamonds are perfect, so sometimes they make… mistakes. Those mistakes endure in the gems they inject in the soil, and when they burst out, they come out like that.”

“Like horrible monsters?”

“Yes,” he nodded, “horrible and very destructive. If left unchecked, they could ruin this world and everyone on it. My division is tasked with keeping them under control. When one emerges from hiding and attacks, we defend the city and the rest of the planet, poofing it and later shattering its gemstone so it can never harm again.”

“Wow…” she marveled, eyes sparkling as she gazed up at him, “You’re so brave!”

A slight blush came over his pale cheeks as he looked away, “Oh, no, I’m just doing my job. It’s not like I can do anything else, after all.”

A moment of respite followed, then he said, “It’s right there.”

“What?”

“The building you were looking for. It’s right there,” he pointed to a pyramid not far away.

She tilted her head in confusion, then one of her bubbles bumped into it. She exclaimed in remembrance, “Oh, right! I was making deliveries! So much happened today, I almost forgot!”

She rushed forward, then stopped herself and turned around.

“Thank you so much for everything… uhh…” she trailed off, “What’s your name?”

He stood tall and respectable, like any proper soldier should, “Milky Quartz, Cut-1UF.”

She bowed her head, “Thank you, Milky Quartz.”

With that, they parted ways, Milky Quartz lingering on Cinnabar as she trotted to the pyramid before returning to his duties.


	2. Blowing Bubbles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Milky Quartz visits Cinnabar at the post office she works at with a very important question.

Cinnabar was taking things easy today. It had been a day or so after the corrupted gem attack, so she figured she needed a little break. Her superior, Cinnabar Cut-5AA, allowed her to stay in the post office and organize the deliveries to be shipped out instead. It was a simple job, and Cinnabar certainly appreciated it, but she couldn’t help getting distracted thinking about yesterday’s events as she worked. More specifically, about Milky Quartz.

“Do you think I’ll see him again?” she asked 5AA.

“That quartz? I mean, there’s a possibility, if his little division needs anything delivered…”

“He said they don’t normally get deliveries…”

“Well, then I don't know what else to tell you,” she typed on her monitor, then said after some thought, “They do patrols, right? Maybe you might catch him then.”

“Yeah…”

5AA turned in her seat, “Why do you care so much about that quartz anyway?”

“It's just... I'm just grateful, that's all. He saved my life.”

“Be that as it may, I think you should let it go. It's obviously taking focus away from your job-- you know, a gem’s entire reason for being.”

Cinnabar hummed sadly. Maybe she was right.

“It was just some random encounter, anyway!” her superior continued, “With all the quartzes and all the cinnabars on this planet, what really are your chances of crossing paths again?”

Then, as if on cue, a gem walked through the door. 5AA turned forward to greet the patron.

“Hello! Welcome to--!”

After a beat, she turned back to Cinnabar, whispering, “Hey, what did you say that quartz looked like again? Like, bangs covering the right side of his face, right?”

Cinnabar, confused as to why that was relevant, swiveled her head in 5AA’s direction. Sure enough, standing on the other side of the counter was that particular Milky Quartz, the one that saved her life.

Was it possible for a cinnabar's face to get redder? She certainly felt like she was testing that when her eyes set on him. “Oh, hello.”

His face seemed troubled, and he was clutching something to his chest. “Hello,” he said quickly. He looked back to 5AA, “Would you mind if I, erm, borrow her for a bit? It's a matter of planetary security.”

“Uh, of course, go ahead, sir,” she invited him to walk behind the counter.

He shuffled in and stood before Cinnabar. “Do you have a... back room of some kind?”

“Oh, yeah, yeah!” she replied, nodding quickly, “Let me take you!”

She led him into the mail room, where she'd been working earlier before she started talking to 5AA, walls lined with labeled cubbies, some filled, some not. She closed the door so they could be alone, for Milky Quartz kept glancing back to 5AA worriedly.

“So, what was it you wanted to talk about? And why in here?” she asked.

“I'm sorry for the inconvenience. I wanted to keep this matter private as not to stir any panic.”

“Panic?” she parroted, “Why would there be a panic?”

He drew the object in his hands away from his chest, revealing it to be the gemstone of the corrupted charoite he'd taken down the day before.

True to Milky's words, Cinnabar panicked, letting out a huge scream followed by a “Wh-why did you bring that thing here?! That's not safe!”

He held out his other hand, “Now wait a minute, wait a minute! I assure you that this gem is safe to be around. It can take quite a while for a gem to reform after it's been poofed. You have my promise that you'll be alright, at least for now…”

“What's that supposed to mean, ‘for now’?”

“That's what I came here to talk with you about. See, we’re safe for now, but in this state the gem won't stay dormant forever. Our shattering machine is currently out of order, and we have no idea when they’ll send a peridot down to fix it.”

One of Cinnabar's eyes screwed up in confusion, “And where do I fit into all this?”

Milky Quartz's eye trailed about the shipments in the cubbies. He pointed to one of them, “The bubbles you make for these, can you only pop them from the outside?”

“Yes, the only thing that can penetrate them is a sharp object or significant outside pressure.” She summoned her utility knife in her grasp in a burst of sparkles, beaming because she got to be the lecturer for a change, “That's why we have these!”

“Right…” he glanced at it, then back to her, “That means my theory may just work…”

“And what theory is that?”

He looked down at the charoite, thumb gliding across the surface in little circles.

“I was thinking that, maybe... bubbling a gem could keep it in stasis, permanently. There's no room inside for it to regenerate, and if the bubble can't burst from the inside…”

“You could keep it from doing harm until you can shatter it!” Cinnabar finished the thought.

“Ha, you got it!” he chuckled proudly.

Seeing his gentle, smiling face warmed her to her core. It was as if he cast a spell on her. The enchantment fizzled a bit when an awareness dawned on her.

“So what, that’s it? You came all this way just to ask me that?”

He seemed jarred out of a similar trance to the one she fell under, “Oh, no! I have, umm, a follow-up question...”

He got down on one knee, presenting the charoite to her, as she blushed even harder. “Cinnabar Cut-3AE, would you please be kind enough to bubble this for me?”

She stared at him for a moment or two, this decently-ranking soldier kneeling before a common gem like her, then exploded with laughter.

His pale face was overcome with a peach-colored flush, “Wh-why are you…?”

“Oh! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!” she apologized, recovering quickly, “It's just… a quartz stooping before a cinnabar? You have to admit, it's a funny image!”

“I... I guess…”

“It's that and, if I didn't know any better, I'd think you didn't know how to bubble!”

His eye wandered, his face wincing, his teeth bared in awkwardness.

Cinnabar's eyes went wide. “Ohh. You mean… you've never learned?”

He sprung to his own defense and to his feet, “I-it's not that! We quartzes can't make bubbles! It's impossible with our programming!”

She tilted her head to the side, “That… that doesn't make any sense. It's the same idea as summoning a weapon, right? They're constructs from your gemstone made of hard light. How could you only make one but not the other?”

“Well, I… umm…” he put a hand to mouth and furrowed his brow in thought. “I don't know…” he replied, rich black pupil trembling as he uncovered his lips.

“Did you ever even try?” she asked.

“No.”

“Why don't you? I could teach you how,” she offered.

“B-but they told us we couldn't. How could they be wrong?” He wasn't exactly sure who “they” were, the automatic, eminent other his thoughts jumped to, but it wasn't his place to speculate on such matters.

“Well, we could still try. If nothing comes out of it, then, well, that's that!” Cinnabar punctuated that with swinging her arms out wide. “I’d just bubble it for you like you asked. No harm done!”

Milky Quartz considered the idea quietly for a bit.

“Sure, why not?” he finally conceded, though he doubted it would do anything except kill time. Not that he minded killing time with this cinnabar…

Cinnabar, pleased with his decision, invited him to sit on the floor with her. When he asked why, she told him that the first few times one bubbles requires a good deal of focus, so it's just easier to start while sitting.

“Now, hold what you want to bubble in hand,” she started. She looked to his hand, how tightly his fingers clutched the purple gem. She shook her head, “No, no, not like that.” She put her hand on his, lingering there a second or two longer than necessary. As she slowly pulled away, subtly hooking his finger tips before hers passed, he understood and eased his grip. “You have to just let it... rest there.”

With his fingers uncurled, she continued, “Okay, now you have to concentrate on it, and what you're trying to do, really hard.”

Milky stared long and hard at the gem. He tried to envision the process: a magical, spherical barrier encasing it. The mental image, was it enough? The crease of his brow deepened, and he bit his bottom lip. The minutes ticked onward. Nothing.

His head slumped forward and he sighed. “I... I can't do it…”

“Don't give up!” she encouraged, “I know it's hard at first, but you’ll get the hang of it. Even a silly, spaced-out cinnabar like me did!”

She shifted in her seating position, getting closer and more casual, getting a better look at the charoite. “I think I didn't explain good enough. See, only thinking about it being in a bubble isn't enough. You have to… sorta… feel it.”

He glanced back to her. “Feel it?”

“Yeah, ya gotta, uhh,” she flicked her finger out demonstratively, “tap into it. The way I was taught, you think about how much you want to protect the thing that’ll be inside. Like our shipments, for instance.”

He turned his attention back to the gem, a little ponderous hum buzzing up from his throat, eye narrowing.

“That's the trouble then, isn't it? I don't care about the safety of this thing. I want it smashed to bits and pieces as soon as possible. So what could I do?”

“Well… why don't you try looking at it differently?” she suggested, “Think about what you  _ do _ want to protect.”

He gave her a small nod and took her advice. He thought of this planet, one he’d spent his entire existence on, the only place he’d ever known. He thought of all the thousands of gems he vowed to serve, with his life if need be, from the lowly pebbles that scurried through the walls to the Diamonds themselves. He thought of his comrades, the other milky quartzes that he emerged with and fought alongside day after day. And, finally, his mind turned to Cinnabar. The sweet little cinnabar who was for some reason indulging him in all of this. There was so much in this world he wanted to keep safe, safe from the things he's seen, things like--

With a strange wobbly sound and a few sparkles, a milk-white bubble formed around the charoite in an instant. Milky Quartz stared at it in disbelief and amazement a minute or two, as Cinnabar squealed in delight.

“You did it, Milky! You did it! I knew you would!” she cheered, shaking him by the shoulder. Acting purely on the emotion of the moment, she hugged him.

“I'm so happy for--!”

Her eyes met his one, awash with astonishment, and she only now realized what social line she just crossed.

She jumped to her feet, her hands automatically forming a diamond salute, and rattled on nervously, “Ah! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to touch you like that! It was stupid of me!”

“No, no, really, it's alright!” he assured her, “I won't report anything! It was... um... nice, actually...”

The symbol she made withered slightly, her fingers relaxing.

“Really?”

“Well, I think so, at least.”

He stood up, the bubble hovering above his open palm.

“Thank you so much, by the way. I don't know how I did it, or why I was told I couldn't, but…”

He gave her a grin, the widest she'd seen from him so far.

“Thank you. You taught me a lot. The city, this whole planet will rest easy now, thanks to you.”

“Oh, I…” She tried to think of a way to weasel her way out of the praise, for it was something that felt improper, something she felt she didn't deserve, but her mind was blank. So, instead, she relented.

“You're very welcome, sir.”

He made his way to the door out to the office. “I'll be seeing you around then, right?”

Her hands eased back to her sides.

“Right,” she said with an affirming nod.

And so the quartz left, and so the cinnabar returned to her duties, now with spirits high and fluttering and focus unmatched.


	3. Bumblebee Jaspers, Discovery, and Disasters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cinnabar and Milky Quartz cross paths again, and share more than just awkward banter.

The cinnabar and the quartz's next meeting wouldn't be for a week. But, oh, what a meeting it was, certainly a meeting to remember. Perhaps it was the stars’ way of making up for lost time.

3AE and 5AA were out on the town making deliveries together, 5AA guiding the still directionally challenged 3AE along.

5AA sighed happily, “Isn't it wonderful, 3AE?”

3AE nodded, still drinking in the splendor of gem architecture, “Yeah…”

“It's all so peaceful,” her superior continued, shutting her eyes in bliss, “Each gem working in perfect harmony...”

A pebble peeked out of an opening in a nearby wall. 3AE smiled and waved.

“Always in their neat little places!”

The pebble, face fearful, scampered away and the opening shut. 3AE frowned and rushed to catch up with 5AA.

“Yes, it's a fantastic operation we've got going on here…”

_Boom!_

An explosion shook the earth, clouds of debris filling the sky. The ground ahead of them gave way to a dark chasm leading all the way down to the planet's surface. The pair of cinnabars, as did the gems around them, panicked.

“Oh my stars!”

“What was that?!”

“I don't know!”

A monster leapt out from the darkness, yellow with gray stripes. It had a similar segmented appearance to the charoite Cinnabar had seen before, however this gem creature had a large, cone-shaped abdomen where its gemstone was set. Instead of no eyes, it had eyes that were far too big, black, and soulless. It emitted a vicious buzz as it smashed into buildings and screaming gems.

“Don't worry, folks! We've got this under control!”

It was Milky Quartz and his crew, one still scrambling to get his foot over the edge of the hole. The sight of him made Cinnabar stop in her tracks.

“Oi! 1UF! 1UF!” she called, waving to him, “Hi!”

“What?! Why are you so calm all of a sudden?!” shrieked her superior.

“Erm, hi...” he replied awkwardly, “I-I would talk but there's a giant monster on the loose...”

“Oh, yeah, right…” she said, her joy at seeing him again having overtaken her mind.

An uncomfortable pause followed, walls still crumbling and gems still being terrorized.

“Let's, uh, let's take this thing down!” Milky rallied the others finally. They ran over to do battle, and 5AA turned to 3AE.

“Let's send all this stuff back to headquarters,” she suggested, “With all this destruction, there's no way we can deliver anything until the pebbles patch it up.”

“Right,” Cinnabar nodded. Both went about tapping the tops of the red bubbles, teleporting them back to the post office.

Milky Quartz charged the beast head on, but long, sickle-like legs blocked him and swiped back. As the others came in from all directions, its gemstone glowed. Several orbs of light levitated out of it and transformed into smaller, polygonal copies of the gem monster. As soon as one of the other quartzes destroyed a projection, two more would pop into its place. It was a battle that would not be easily won.

“Come on, 3AE! Let's get out of here!” 5AA urgently squealed.

“Wait! I remember I had one more order! I just can't seem to--”

Looking around, her eyes set on her last bubble. Apparently, in the midst of all this confusion, she must've accidentally bopped it away. It hovered now, over the abyss, just within reaching distance.

“Oh, schist.”

Cinnabar stood back a moment, quiet, contemplative.

“3AE, leave it!”

Cinnabar bit the bullet, running to the edge.

“3AE!”

She stopped just short, bits of the brink breaking off before her. She reached out, straining, grunting, trying to keep her balance.

Milky Quartz was tossed aside by the creature, skidding across the crystal walkway. His eye caught Cinnabar as he laid there, motionless, breath caught in his chest.

Cinnabar, teetering, finally made contact with the bubble, sending it away. She rocked back a little, letting out an anxious but relieved sigh. Milky smiled softly.

The moment didn't last.

A projection of the gem monster, thrashing in its tussle against one of the quartzes, hit her with its abdomen, knocking her off the edge.

“Cinnabar!” Milky Quartz screamed, flying to his feet. Without a second thought, he ran to the brink of the gorge and jumped in after her.

He saw her as she fell, curled into herself and crying, eyes squeezed shut in fear. Her small figure set against the expanse of darkness, reaching a depth he doubted even the sturdiest gems could withstand unscathed. He maneuvered himself to drop to her level, and grabbed her by the shoulders.

“I-I just wanted to do a good job!” she sobbed, “Makeup for all the times I got lost! Now I'm gonna die for it!”

Teardrops pricked the corner of his eye, briefly, from both the whirlwind of emotion and the wind against his face. “Cinnabar, you are not going to die! I will never let that happen!”

“B-but how are we getting out of this?!”

“I don't know! I really don't know! I wasn't thinking! I just wanted to keep you safe!”

Streams of tears flooded upwards and she gulped for air that momentum stole away. Milky Quartz yanked her into an embrace.

His voice crackled, words surging out just as his waterworks, “It’s okay, it's okay, it's okay. I've got you. I'm right here. I won't let you go.”

“And... when we hit the ground?” she asked, tone soft and nervous.

“I'll keep you safe,” he repeated.

She buried her face in his chest and he rested his head in the crook of her neck. Far beyond hope for rescue, they both knew whatever would happen would happen, and they could only deal with it as it came. Despite this, somehow, Cinnabar had complete faith in him. She knew that this quartz cared for her so much, and she felt the same. As they tumbled over each other in a strange, vertical waltz to oblivion, despite all logic, she felt he had to be right. They had to make it through, together.

Flexibility, love, trust…

They had no sensation of hitting the bottom. In truth, for a moment they forgot they were even falling. There was a feeling of warmth, of harmony and closeness, then suddenly they were laying on the planet’s dead surface. When they opened their eyes, the world seemed... shifted. Depth and detail of the buildings far, far above were heightened, and the lights burned to look at. They rose a hand to blot it out, squinting, but catching the details on it made their eyes go wide instead. The arm was bulky like Milky Quartz’s, but the hand was gloved like Cinnabar’s, albeit without the fingers. And the arm itself was a soft pink…

Confusion and horror washed over them and everything around them seemed to waver. Their light flashed, warped, and separated. When the two gems burst apart, Milky Quartz skittered to a rock wall, looking more spooked about what just happened than of any monster he’d ever faced. Cinnabar just stared at him, sitting on her knees, perplexed by what just occurred.

“What… what was…?”

Milky sweat bullets. He trembled, mouth gaping in an attempt to form words that wouldn’t come. It was as if the little gem had him pinned against the wall and threatened his life.

That tense silence lasted for what felt like hours, but must’ve only been fifteen minutes at most.

Then, a thick black whip studded with honey-colored crystals dropped from above, hitting the dirt with a loud crack, frightening them both.

“Hey, you bozos! Grab on! I can’t haul you back up if you just laze around!”

They looked up to see another quartz, this one yellow and beefier than Milky. He held the whip’s handle in one hand, gripping a bump in the wall with the other.

Both rushed to snatch it, Milky already gaining incentive to climb up a little. The new quartz beamed at them, a devious glint to his pearly whites.

“You better hold tight!”

The quartz went into a fiery spin attack, propelling himself and his cargo up the wall at breakneck speed. When he reached the top and came to a sudden halt, Cinnabar and Milky Quartz suffered quite literal whiplash and slammed into the ground ahead.

“Wow, Citrine! Nice job! Why don’t you just go ahead and bust up the rest of the pavement while you’re at it!”

This gem stood before the rest of Milky Quartz’s division, her skin gray and short, straight hair jet black, covering her right eye. A kite-shaped gemstone of the same color was embedded in the back of her right hand. She was obviously being sarcastic with that remark.

Citrine's cheeks flushed orange, “Hey! You told me to get 'em out quick!”

“Shut up, idiot…” She glanced down and pointed to Milky Quartz, “You! Get in the line!”

He bolted up and dashed to the end of the line. It was the first time Cinnabar had even seen him do a diamond salute.

The dark gem summoned a saber and paced before the five pale quartzes, dragging the blade across the ground behind her. The scraping noise and groove it left behind made them quiver.

“I won’t play games with you rocks: you really screwed up. Your _one_ job is to keep those ugly things away from our cities. To exterminate them, to maintain order. Our way of life is a delicate balance that each gem must work to preserve. If you can’t serve that purpose…”

“You’ll get shattered!” Citrine interjected.

She whipped around to yell at him again, but she was beaten to the punch.

“Hey, don’t say things like that!” Cinnabar wagged her finger at him.

He bent down, not quite to her level, but just enough to loom over her. “What’s it to you, little red?”

“It’s an awful thing to say to a gem!”

“Well, it’s true, you know! It’s either that or get harvested!”

“But that’s hardly fair! It was just a mistake!”

“The Diamond Authority has no room for mistakes!” he growled.

She stood on her tiptoes, getting in his face, “Then why are you here?!”

One could hear a pin drop in the silence that followed. Cinnabar flung back, hands covering her mouth in surprise as everyone watched her with wide eyes.

Then, the tall, dark gem exploded with hysterical laughter, doubled over, her arm wrapped tight across her gut. Citrine’s whole face went orange and he stood straight, steaming.

She chortled, wiping away a teardrop, “I-I like this cinnabar! She’s a fireball!”

“B-but Onyx! That was completely out of line--”

She strolled up to him and slapped him across the gemstone on his left shoulder. “Stop yammering, Citrine. I could get _you_ harvested, ya know...” she teased.

“Umm... Miss Onyx?” asked Cinnabar, tone again softly afraid and respectful.

“Yes?”

“Y-you won’t punish those quartzes too harshly, will you?”

She smiled, “You know what? You put me in a good mood, so I’ll consider it.”

“Oh come on, you can’t be serious!” Citrine groaned, “They neglected their positions!”

“Umm, actually, they didn’t neglect anything,” Cinnabar cautiously corrected, “I happen to know that their shattering machine has been broken for some time, despite sending out a repair request. They must’ve been working hard to secure the corrupted gems they already had in their possession, so this one must’ve slipped through the cracks.”

Onyx took this all in, then turned to the quartzes, “Is this true?”

They all made nervous noises of confirmation.

“Alright. I’ll pull a few strings to get a peridot down there soon. You’re all dismissed.” She pushed Citrine on the other shoulder, “Let’s go.”

Citrine glared back at Cinnabar and spat, “Off-color.”

“Yeah, well, yellow’s not the prettiest one either...” she muttered under her breath, arms crossed. When their superiors were out of sight, the milky quartzes all let out sighs of relief. Some laughed and others came up and thanked her. That is, except for 1UF. He stayed back, picking up the corrupted gemstone he couldn’t defeat and bubbling it.

“1UF?”

He glanced up to her, dread flickering in his dark eye.

He ran.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fusion! fusion! FUSION!!!!!
> 
> also Killer T and NK gems.


	4. Well, I Just Can't Stop Thinkin'...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Milky Quartz ruminates on what he's done, a dangerous pastime for any soldier.

The rest of his squadron didn't catch up with him until later. They didn't imagine that there was anything wrong, they probably just assumed he wanted to get the gem to their base below the city as quickly as possible. _That’s 1UF for you,_ they must've said as they strolled down the stairwell carved through the rock of one of the planet's old mountains, _always has his eye on the prize._

Milky Quartz sat reclined in his cubby hole, arms behind his head, staring at his bubble.

That white bubble… like a white planetoid floating in the heavens…

A moment from long ago seeped back into his mind, the imagery dredging it back up to the surface…

 

“You know, despite this colony being Yellow Diamond’s in all practical senses, it's actually in White Diamond's name.”

It was an odd comment for him to hear, one that seemed directed at him. He’d only been stationed to guard the record office, not chat with the dendritic opals. Yet, this one was trying to engage with him.

“It's true,” he continued as he approached along the wall, fingers dancing through squares of light filed away on high shelves, “I should know, I'm one of the oldest gems here.”

One of the oldest and the most highly valued. Dendritic opals had photographic memories, and thus were essential for colony operations.

White Diamond.

 _The_ White Diamond.

His eye focused on the yellow diamond at the center of his chest, then traced down the shades of gray and off-white of the rest of his quartz uniform. The yellow was like a patch against the monochrome, a quick fix for some unforeseen tear.

Dendritic Opal broke off from the shelves and pranced into his line of sight, hands behind his back. He had a curious look to his eyes that seemed to encourage Milky's own sense of intrigue.

“Why would she give it up?” Milky questioned.

“Ever since Pink Diamond met her unfortunate fate, the poor soul, White withdrew into her Homeworld palace,” Opal informed, a somberness to his tone.

“Oh…” He’d heard of the intergalactic tragedy before, of course, but as an Era 2 gem he couldn't conceive of the devastation in the same manner as an Era 1.

“I wouldn't be sad, though,” he took on a brighter yet still weary inflection, “Though Yellow and Blue carry on her mission in her place, she is still the matriarch of our people. She watches over us all, bathing us in her light. It passes through every gem, refracting through their gemstone and shining back out through their physical form.”

He smiled at him, “You know, I think she would like you. Your light is so pure, your gem absorbs almost nothing.”

“Really?” He blushed a peachy color.

His grin took on an impish quality, as he took a mental picture of Milky's discoloration, “Well, almost.”

 

White Diamond.

That paragon of perfection. The gem all gems were crafted in the image of.

He was made for her. Directly for her.

_I think she would like you._

His gut twisted as he recalled the events of the day. When he and Cinnabar formed that… _thing_. That terrible, unnatural thing.

He had _three_ eyes when he was a part of that thing. Three. He'd never had more than one.

What an abomination. What an insult to the perfect framework of gemkind, of White Diamond's design.

_Your light is so pure._

His light was contaminated, the pure white light that shone through his gem that imbued him with life and purpose, White Diamond's light. It was all distorted, misshapen by the combination of unlike forms, and it was all his fault.

So...

Why did it feel so nice?

Why did he enjoy it when his and Cinnabar's bodies joined into one, for the brief time he was unaware of what exactly occurred?

He caressed the facets of his gemstone, where on most gems a right eye would be.

Three eyes…

For the first time in his life, Milky Quartz saw in three dimensions. For the first time, his world had depth in ways he couldn't even conceptualize. It was as if the veil had lifted just a moment, and he could see so clearly for that moment that in the aftermath he had to reckon with flatness he never noticed before, because it was all he knew. His perspective had changed so drastically, and now he had to shift back into a two-dimensional way of life.

These were dangerous thoughts, dissenting thoughts against the Diamonds’ grand design. He should be shattered for thinking such things. That, or harvested, as Citrine said. Perhaps that wouldn't be so bad. He'd make a fine wall, he presumed. Sturdy, dependable...

Still, he didn't have to make any plans about what fixture they'd repurpose his gemstone for just yet. Firstly because it wasn't his choice to make, but also because it wasn't as if anyone knew. Citrine didn't see it, or Onyx, or any of his comrades, it was just between him and Cinnabar. It was just a moment, a peculiar passing moment shared between two gems and two gems alone. Surely she understood the gravity of their actions and would keep her mouth shut, he didn't have to worry about that, and he himself wouldn't tell a soul. So he could cast it all out of his mind, pretend it was just an odd fancy that snuck up on him one day as he stood guard. It was a daydream, and nothing more.

So, that was what he resolved to do. Forget. Forget his sin, forget that warmth and closeness, forget sweet little Cinnabar, and thus forget what they created together, as one would a dream on waking. But really, the only dream he was chasing was one where such a plan would ever work. What has been seen can never truly be unseen, one mustn't have the memory of a dendritic opal for that to ring true, even if they didn't have enough eyes to see it quite the same way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's sad boy hours lads

**Author's Note:**

> hoo boy a gem au. of cells at work. honestly I was genuinely surprised this hadn't been done before, considering how the societies of Homeworld and the human body are kinda similar with the whole strict caste system from birth thing, just that one portrays it positively and the other negatively. I don't really have anything concrete in terms of story planned, I just sort of want to play around with the concept.


End file.
